PROVIDENCE – The nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area declined 0.3 percentage points year over year to 3.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Wednesday.
The national unemployment rate in May was also 3.4%, not seasonally adjusted. Rhode Island unemployment, nonseasonly adjusted, was 3.3% in May.
The lowest unemployment rate of any metro area in the nation in May was in the Ames, Iowa, metro and the Burlington-South Burlington, Vt., metro area at 1.5% each. Unemployment rates declined in 254 of 389 United States metro areas year over year in May.
The labor force in the Providence metro area declined 0.4% year over year to 683,484. The number of unemployed in the metro area was 23,119, an 8.7% decline year over year in May, while the number of nonfarm payrolls in the area increased 0.1% to 599,400.
In the New Bedford metro area, unemployment declined 0.4 percentage points year over year to 4.5%, nonseasonally adjusted. The metro’s labor force increased 2.6% year over year to 86,946. The number of unemployed in the metro area declined 7.4% year over year to 3,879 people. The number of nonfarm payrolls in the metro area increased 2.7% to 68,000.
In the Norwich-New London, Conn.-Westerly metro area, unemployment declined 0.5 percentage points year over year in May to 3.5%. The labor force in the metro declined slightly year over year to 142,455 in May. The number of unemployed declined 14.2% in the metro to 4,942 people. The number of nonfarm payrolls in the metro totaled 130,900 for the month, a 0.2% increase year over year.
